It stands on the left bank of the Volkhov River about two miles north of where it empties out of Lake Ilmen.

[1] The compound was originally the site of a pagan burial ground upon which the first bishop of Novgorod, Ioakim Korsunianin, built the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom upon his arrival in the area in 989 or so.

Thus the compound was and remained largely an ecclesiastical site, although many Novgorodian boyars built their houses in the southern part of the Detinets.

There are numerous references in the chronicles to no longer extant buildings, including chapels over the gates (there were six in the republican period) and the Church of Sts.

Boris and Gleb, built by Sitko Sitinits, who is thought to be the historic source for the legendary Sadko.